Apparatus and method for partitioning and managing subsystem logics

ABSTRACT

A subsystem logics partitioning and managing apparatus comprises a recognition unit for recognizing logical and physical resources that constitute a subsystem a partition definition table in which the logical and physical resources in the subsystem are assigned for each user at an interface level at which a storage configuration can be referenced by a storage management program an account table in which an account is set for each user-specific partition defined in the partition definition table a receiving unit for receiving a user account transmitted from an information processing unit and checking the received user account against the account table, to recognize a partition that corresponds to the user and a unit for outputting, at a GUI level, logical resources and physical resources that are contained in the recognized partition to an output interface as a resource configuration in the subsystem.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This is a continuation application of U.S. Ser. No. 10/729,925, filedDec. 9, 2003. Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-300363 on which thepresent application is based and which was applied on Aug. 25, 2003 isherein incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an apparatus, method, and program forpartitioning and managing logics which are present in a subsystem, and arecording medium for recording the program.

2. Description of the Related Art

A storage subsystem is proposed which is expected to be accessed from avariety of types of computers and which has a port to which an interfacefor connecting to a plurality of computers can be applied, a logicalunit (LU) which can be accessed from the computers via said port, one ora plurality of storage devices for storing data which is stored in saidlogical unit, and a storage control device for conducting read/writecontrol on the storage devices in order to realize security for eachlogical unit while effectively utilizing system resources in aconventional Logical Unit Number (LUN) security function. The computersaccessing the logical unit are grouped into groups in such a manner thatthe computers can overlap each other. Each of the groups is assigned oneor a plurality of logical units, and a management table is providedwhich correlates the assigned logical units and storage regions of thestorage devices in such a manner that they can overlap each other.

On the other hand, the increasing storage capacity of a storage systemhas prompted large-scale storage consolidation. With storageconsolidation, in a subsystem, there exist in a mixed manner a pluralityof data belonging to a plurality of systems/applications. However, asecurity function in an aspect of storage management involved in storageconsolidation has not sufficiently been provided by a GUI-level maskingtechnology or conventional technology that provides security functionsfor data access itself.

That is, according to the conventional GUI-level masking etc., resourcesof upper storage management software are not partitioned on an interfacewhich is adapted to instruct an actual storage to change aconfiguration. This is a problem. Therefore, such an issue is leftunsolved that by using this interface, the configuration can be changedarbitrarily irrespective of a partitioning unit on a GUI etc.

Further, conventionally, partitioning of resources to such an extentthat the upper storage management software can recognize (at alogical-volume level) is possible, whereas partitioning of physicalresources that cannot be recognized by the management software (e.g., atan HDD level) has been impossible. Furthermore, even in the case of thispartitioning at the logical-volume level, it cannot be known to whichphysical resources the logical volumes are allocated, so that some ofthe resources, even if partitioned as described above, may be commonphysically in some cases, which remains as a problem in performance orsecurity.

Therefore, in a case where partitioning of logics of a subsystem inwhich storage consolidation has been performed is managed according tothe conventional method, there is a possibility that an administratormay mistakenly perform an operation such as addition/deletion even to aregion of other users, administrators and companies in relation toprocessing such as addition/deletion because such processing can beperformed on an LU by configuration changing functions of an RAID. Thismay lead to system panic or user data destruction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, to accommodate storage consolidation and allow some of theconfiguration changing functions of an RAID for multiple administrators,in view of the above problems, the storage system and the storagemanagement software need to have a function to guard againstconfiguration changing of unauthorized area system area from anadministrator other than the system area which is assigned for theadministrator.

In view of such a background, the present invention has been made and itis an object of the present invention to provide a subsystem logicspartitioning and managing apparatus, method, and program for enablingconfiguration changing functions of an RAID within a predeterminedlimit, and a recording medium for recording the program.

For this end, a subsystem logics partitioning and managing apparatusaccording to one feature of the present invention comprises:

-   -   means for recognizing logical resources and physical resources        that constitute a subsystem;    -   a partition definition table in which logical and physical        resources in said subsystem are assigned for each user at an        interface level at which a storage configuration can be        referenced by a storage management program;    -   an account table in which a partition-specific account is set        for each user defined in said partition definition table;    -   means for receiving a user account transmitted from an        information processing unit and collating the received user        account to said account table to thereby recognize a partition        corresponding to said user; and    -   means for outputting logical resources and physical resources        that are included in said recognized partition to an output        interface as a resource configuration in said subsystem.

The subsystem logics partitioning and managing apparatus comprises meansfor outputting, at a GUI level, logical resources and physical resourcesthat are contained in said partition to an output interface as aresource configuration in said subsystem.

The subsystem logics partitioning and managing apparatus comprises meansfor accepting from the information processing unit a request forchanging a configuration of said output logical resources or physicalresources and changing said configuration of said logical resources orsaid physical resources in said partition definition table.

Resources to be assigned for each user in said partition definitiontable include a port, a logical unit, a logical device indicative of alogical storage region assigned to said logical unit, and a disk unitgroup having a disk unit and a parity bit-use disk unit which storesdata recovery information of said disk unit.

The subsystem logics partitioning and managing apparatus comprises meansfor collating a requested specification of a logical unit accepted froman information processing unit to an assignment policy for said logicaldevice and said disk unit group that are defined for each user, toperform assignment of a logical device and a disk unit group inaccordance with said policy, thereby generating a logical unit.

The assignment policy comprises:

-   -   a first policy for selecting said logical device from a disk        unit group to which no other partitions are assigned and in        which no such disk unit group is present that control on        input/output operations to disk units is conducted via the same        adapter, to generate a logical unit;    -   a second policy for selecting said logical device from a disk        unit group to which no other partitions are assigned, to        generate a logical unit; and    -   a third policy for selecting said logical device from a disk        unit group to which no other partitions that correspond to said        first and second policies are assigned, to generate a logical        unit.

Furthermore, resources to be assigned for each user include a cache.

According to another feature of the present invention there is provideda method for partitioning and managing logics in a subsystem whichcomprises a partition definition table in which logical resourcesphysical resources in said subsystem are assigned for each user at aninterface level at which a computer can reference a storageconfiguration by using a storage management program and an account tablein which a partition-specific account is set for each user that isdefined in said partition definition table, said method comprising thesteps of:

-   -   recognizing said logical and physical resources that constitute        said subsystem;    -   receiving an account of a user transmitted from an        information-processing device and collating the received user        account to said account table, to recognize a partition        corresponding to said user; and    -   outputting logical and physical resources contained in said        recognized partition to an output interface as a resource        configuration in said subsystem.

According to a further feature of the present invention there isprovided a subsystem logics partitioning and managing program forcausing a computer capable of utilizing a partition definition table inwhich logical resources and physical resources in a subsystem areassigned for each user at an interface level at which a storageconfiguration can be referenced by using a storage management programand an account table in which a partition-specific account is set foreach user that is defined in said partition definition table to performa method for partitioning managing logics of said subsystem, saidprogram comprising the steps of:

-   -   recognizing said logical and physical resources that constitute        said subsystem;    -   receiving an account of a user transmitted from an        information-processing device and collating the received user        account to against said account table, to recognize a partition        corresponding to said user; and    -   outputting logical and physical resources contained in said        recognized partition to an output interface as a resource        configuration in said subsystem. This program is comprised of        codes for performing said steps.

According to a still further feature of the present invention there isprovided a computer-readable recording medium for recording saidsubsystem logics partitioning and managing program.

The other problems and the corresponding solutions disclosed in thepresent application will be made clear by description of embodiments ofthe present invention and drawings.

According to the present invention, the configuration changing functionsof the RAID can be released within a predetermined range.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will nowbecome apparent from the description of the embodiments of the inventionin conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is an illustration for showing a configuration of a storagesystem according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an illustration for showing a use case image according to thepresent embodiment.

FIG. 3A is an illustration for showing a relationship among a disk arraydevice, an API, and a GUI according to a conventional example.

FIG. 3B is an illustration for showing the relationship among a diskarray device, an API, and a GUI according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for showing an initial partition definition flow(with a policy) according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for showing the initial partition definition flow(without policy) according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for showing a configuration referencing/updatingflow according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an illustration for showing a system configuration (with apolicy base resource assigning function) and a partition definitiontable.

FIG. 8 is an illustration for showing the system configuration (withoutpolicy base resource assigning function) and the partition definitiontable.

FIG. 9 is an illustration for showing one example of an account table.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

System Configuration

FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a storage system according to thepresent embodiment. A subsystem 10 and a host 25 are interconnected viaan interface 30 (hereinafter referred to as fibre channel 30) such as,for example, an SCSI or a fibre channel. As one example of aninformation processing unit, the host 25 is, for example, an open-systemtype computer and can be assumed to be a personal computer orworkstation in which an open-system type operating system (OS) operates.The subsystem 10 comprises a plurality of ports 11 for connection withports of the fibre channel 30, a channel adapter (CHA) 12 forcontrolling a cache and data transfer, a service processor 13 (herereferred to as SVP), a shared memory 14 for storing configurationinformation for use in control, a disk adapter (here referred to as DKA)15 for controlling input/output operations to be performed to a storagedevice 16 such as an HDD, and the storage device 16.

Further, as described above, not in a physical configuration but in alogical configuration, the subsystem 10 comprises the ports 11, a hostgroup 18 (here referred to as Host Group) assigned to the port 11, alogical unit 19 (hereinafter referred to as LU), a logical device 20(hereinafter referred to as LDEV), and a disk unit group 21 (herereferred to as ECC Group).

It is to be noted that a storage region of the storage system which isprovided to the LU19 is managed in units of the LDEV20 (Logical Device).The LDEV20 is a logical volume includes a part of some disk units thatcompose a disk unit group of the disk array. The host 25 specifiesstorage regions to be provided by the LDEV20, in units of said LU19. TheLUsl9 are each given a Logical Unit Number (LUN), which is a uniqueidentifier. At the host 25, the LUN can be, for example, a drive name ora device file name.

Further, said disk unit group 21 is comprised of a disk unit and aparity bit-use disk unit for storing data recovery information of thisdisk unit, which disk unit group 21 itself constitutes the LDEV20.

A management client 40 performs input/output operations to thissubsystem 10 through a network 35 such as an LAN and performs managementprocessing. This management client 40 may be referred to as an inputinterface that permits an administrator (hereinafter referred to asuser) of logical/physical resources in the subsystem 10 which arepartitioned and managed by a method according to the present inventionto reference a configuration of these resources or request for changingthe configuration. This management client 40 can have access through thenetwork 35 to a managing configuration information (partition definitiontable) 17 of the service processor 13, and reference only aconfiguration region of predetermined resources defined for the user andchange it.

FIG. 2 is an illustration for showing a use case image according to thepresent embodiment. By applying a subsystem logics partitioning andmanaging method according to the present invention, even in thesubsystem 10 in which a large-scale storage consolidation has beenperformed, data belonging to a plurality of systems/applications presentin a mixed manner are partitioned for each of said users so that none ofsaid users can violate a boundary between partitions.

That is, in contrast to, for example, a conventional GUI-level maskingtechnique etc., resources of storage management software are partitionedon an interface provided for instructing an actual storage to change aconfiguration (which interface is supposed to be an application programinterface (API)). Therefore, even if this interface is utilized to placeaccess from the management client 40 to a partition 50 in the subsystem10, no contradiction occurs between a partitioning unit returned fromthe service processor 13 to this management client 40 and a range withinwhich the configuration can be changed.

For example, even if certain access to the partition 50 through themanagement client 40 is normal, access to any one of the otherpartitions 51-53 is not permitted. Further, GUI display about the otherpartitions is not output. Alternatively, even if GUI display is givenalso about other partitions, changing etc. of the resource configurationis not accepted. In this case, a relationship among a display, the API,and the GUI is such as shown in FIG. 3. Partitioning processing by theconventional technologies has been realized at a GUI level, to enableviewing or operating even a configuration of all of the resources at anAPI level. However, according to the present invention, the user ispermitted to perform viewing or a variety of operations only to aresource configuration at the GUI level, so that even a trial is made toview or change the resource configuration at, for example, the APIlevel, only a configuration of the resources assigned to this user ispresented from the beginning. That is, partitioning is established evenat the API level.

A storage manager managing the subsystem 10 integrally assigns the diskunit group 21 (in a logical configuration) that constitutes a partitionfor each of said users from the disk unit group 21 (in a physicalconfiguration) included in the subsystem 10. In this case, the serviceprocessor 13 can perform this processing by applying an internalhierarchy control function (hereafter referred to as HIHSM) formoving/rearranging data to an optimal disk drive in accordance withaccess properties in the subsystem in which there are in a mixed mannera plurality of disk drives having different properties such asperformance and a capacity.

Further, by applying a function (hereafter referred to as CVS) forcreating a logical unit having an arbitrary size, a disk capacity can beutilized efficiently. Furthermore, by applying a function (hereafterreferred to as LUSE) for combining a plurality of standard logical unitsto create a mass-capacity LU, it is possible to provide the logical unit19 having a huge size to the host, thus accommodating a large-scaleapplication.

It is to be noted that by further applying a method according to thepresent invention to a subsystem to which conventionally proposed LUNsecurity has been applied, in addition to a LUN security function forenabling setting an accessible host for each logical unit, such afunction can also be provided as to correlate resource configurationdisplay and a configuration changing permission/rejection scope for eachof the users in the subsystem, which is preferable. Moreover, it ispossible also to place access restrictions on a request forreferencing/changing of the resource configuration at an API level, thusfurther improving the security.

Description of Processing

Description will be made of an actual procedure for performing subsystemlogics partitioning and managing method according to an embodiment ofthe present invention. It is to be noted that various operationscorresponding to the subsystem logics partitioning and managing methoddescribed below are realized by a program which is utilized by theservice processor 14, which program is comprised of codes which are usedto perform the various operations described below.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for showing an initial partition definition flow(with a policy) according to an embodiment of the present embodiment.First, initial partitioning to be performed in response to a requestsent from the user is described. The service processor 14 is supposed tohave recognized logical and physical resources that constitute thesubsystem 10, beforehand. Information of this configuration is stored inthe managing configuration information 17 (s400). This configurationinformation 17 provides a definition table in which the logicalresources and the physical resources in the subsystem are assigned foreach of the users at an interface level at which a storage configurationcan be referenced by the storage management program, that is, an APIlevel.

In a partition definition table in FIG. 7 showing a system configuration(with a policy base resource assigning function) and the partitiondefinition table, such a data configuration is provided that using aname of “User” as a key, IDs of a policy set about this user, and saidport 11, host group 18, LVOL, LDEV20, and disk unit group (ECC) 21 thatare assigned are related with columns 500-506 respectively.

When having received a user account transmitted as involved in accessfrom an information processing unit such as said host 25 (s401), saidservice processor 14 collates the received user account to an accounttable (FIG. 9) for checking. FIG. 9 shows one example of an accounttable 600. The account table 600 has such a data configuration thatusing said name of “User” as a key, a user ID and a password are relatedwith columns 601-603. These user ID and password can be registered onlyby an upper user (supervisor).

The service processor 14 can recognize or identify the partition 50 thatcorresponds to this user, based on said collation. For example, if theuser name is “odawara”, a configuration of accessible resources will besuch that ports “1A” and “2A” correspond to host groups “00” and “00”respectively, with the LDEVs being “00.00” through “00.03”, and the diskunit group being “1-1”.

On the other hand, when having received a partition creation instructioncontaining instruction information such as a port, a host group, anLVOL, or a policy from the user (s402), it collates a requiredspecification of the logical unit 19 accepted from the informationprocessing unit such as the host 25, with respect to an assignmentpolicy for said logical device 19 and said disk unit group 21 that aredefined for each of the users. FIG. 7 is an illustration for showing asystem configuration (with a policy base resource assigning function)and a partition definition table. In this case, as shown in FIG. 7, saidassignment policy is supposed to have been defined for each of the usersin the managing configuration information 17.

Therefore, the managing configuration information 17 in the presentembodiment has such a data configuration that using “User” as a key, theassignment policy, the port, the host group, the LVOL (virtual unit thatcorresponds to the required specification request), the LDEV, and thedisk unit group are related with the columns 500-506. However, until theLVOL that corresponds to said use request is defined, said LDEV and saiddisk unit groups remain undefined.

The service processor 14 recognizes this policy based on said managingconfiguration information 17 (s403). If the user is, for example,“odawara”, the relevant assignment policy is “independent” (written as“independent”). This “independent” policy provides a first policy thatgives a provision to the effect that “a logical unit should be generatedby selecting a logical device from a disk unit group to which no otherpartitions are assigned and in which no such disk unit group is presentthat control on input/output operations to disk units is conducted viathe same adapter”.

Further, as an example of the other policies, there is a second policy,that is, “partially shared” policy (hereafter referred to as “partial”)that gives a provision to the effect that “a logical unit should begenerated by selecting said logical device from a disk unit group towhich no other partitions are assigned”.

Furthermore, there is a third policy, that is, “shared use” policy(hereafter referred to as “shared”) that gives a provision to the effectthat “a logical unit should be generated by selecting said logicaldevice from a disk unit group to which no other partitions correspondingto said first and second policies are assigned”.

The service processor 14, which has recognized the assignment policy asdescribed above, performs assignment of a logical device and a disk unitgroup that correspond to this policy (s404). Based on these selectedlogical device and disk unit group, it generates a logical unit (s405).Now that the logical unit has been thus generated and so the resourceconfiguration of this user's partition has been updated, of course saidmanaging configuration information 17 is also updated. That is, theprocess registers the resources in the partition definition table (s406)and ends the processing.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for showing the initial partition definition flow(without policy) according to the present embodiment. Next, initialpartitioning processing in response to a request from the user in thecase of taking into account no policy is described. The serviceprocessor 14 is supposed to have recognized beforehand the logical andphysical resources that constitute the subsystem 10. Information of thisconfiguration is stored in the managing configuration information 17beforehand (s500). This managing configuration information 17 provides adefinition table in which the logical resources and the physicalresources in the subsystem are assigned for each of the users at aninterface level at which the storage configuration can be referenced bythe storage management program, that is, an API level.

In a partition definition table in FIG. 8 showing the systemconfiguration (without policy base resource assigning function) and thepartition definition table, such a data configuration is provided thatusing a name of “User” as a key, IDs of said port 11, host group 18,LDEV20, and disk unit group (ECC) 21 that are assigned to this user arerelated to columns 400-404.

When having received a user account transmitted as involved in accessfrom an information processing unit such as said host 25 (s501), saidservice processor 14 collates the received user account against theaccount table (see FIG. 9) the same way as described above.

The service processor 14 can recognize the partition 50 that correspondsto this user, based on said collation. For example, if the user name is“odawara”, a configuration of accessible resources will be such thatports “1A” and “2A” correspond to host groups “00” and “00”respectively, with the LDEVs being “00.00” through “00.03”, and the diskunit group being “1-1”.

On the other hand, when having received a partition creation instructioncontaining instruction information such as a port, a host group, or anLVOL from the user (s502), it collates a required specification of thelogical unit 19 accepted from the information processing unit such asthe host 25 against a situation, contained in the managing configurationinformation 17, in which said logical device 19 and said disk unit group21 are assigned to the other users. As shown in FIG. 8, said managingconfiguration information 17 has such a data configuration that using“User” as a key, the assigned port, host group, LDEV, and disk unitgroup are related with the columns 400 404.

Said service processor 14, which has recognized the resources that canbe assigned to said user based on said managing configurationinformation 17, assigns a logical device and a disk unit group (s503).Based on these selected logical device and disk unit group, it generatesa logical unit (s504). Now that the logical unit has been thus generatedand so the resource configuration of this user's partition has beenupdated, of course said managing configuration information 17 is alsoupdated.

That is, the process registers the resources in the partition definitiontable (s505) and ends the processing.

Next, resource configuration referencing/updating to be performed inresponse to a request from the user is described. FIG. 6 is a flowchartfor showing a configuration referencing/updating flow according to thepresent embodiment. The service processor 14 is supposed to haverecognized beforehand the logical and physical resources that constitutethe subsystem 10 (s600). Information of this configuration is stored inthe managing configuration information 17 as described above.

The service processor 14 accepts from an information processing unitsuch as said host 25 a user's login request involving a specification ofa user ID and a password and goes through appropriate authenticationprocessing, to perform login processing (s601). When having received auser account transmitted as involved in the login (s602), the serviceprocessor 14 collates it against an account table shown in FIG. 9 asdescribed above.

The service processor 14 can recognize the partition 50 that correspondsto this user, based on said collation (s603). For example, if the useris “odawara”, a configuration of accessible resources will be such thatports “1A” and “2A” correspond to host groups “00” and “00”respectively, with the host group being “00”, the LDEVs being “00.00”through “00.03”, and the disk unit group being “1-1” (see FIG. 7 or 8).

The service processor 14 outputs to said host 25 the logical resourcesand the physical resources that are contained in said recognizedpartition 50, as a resource configuration in the subsystem (s604). If,then, no changing request is sent from the host 25 (NO at s605), theprocessing ends. If a changing request is sent from the host 25 (YES ats605), on the other hand, it is accepted (s606). In this case, ofcourse, the other partitions or changing requests from the otherpartitions are rejected.

The service processor 14, which has received said changing request,allows rewriting of the relevant logical resources or physical resourcesin said managing configuration information 17. Alternatively, it changescontents of the table in order to change the configuration in accordancewith contents of the changing request (s607) and ends the processing.

It is to be noted that said service processor 14 can also output at aGUI level to said host 25 the logical resources and the physicalresources that are contained in a partition 50 assigned for each user,as a resource configuration in the subsystem. It is to be noted that theresource configuration to be output at the GUI level is supposed tocontain only such resources that a user's request for configurationchanging/viewing can be accepted. Therefore, a request forchanging/viewing about partitions of the other users or from the otherpartitions is rejected. Alternatively, such a configuration may beprovided that only viewing is permitted but configuration changing isnot accepted.

In said GUI output, such data may be assumed that a relationship amongsaid resources is configured in a tree format. Further, a pattern of theGUI output may be any of a variety of applicable ones such as a patternin which only the partition 50 of said user is displayed and the otherpartitions are masked, a pattern in which resources shared in theconfiguration, if any, are added to said partition 50 and displayed, anda pattern in which all the partitions are displayed but configurationchanging of only the partition 50 is accepted.

Furthermore, displaying/masking of said configuration resources may besubject to output processing based on a policy in said managingconfiguration information 17, in such a manner that if, for example, thepolicy is “independent”, only the configuration resources of therelevant user are displayed, that if the policy is “shared use”, boththe configuration resources of the relevant user and those of the otherusers are displayed, and that if it is “partially shared”, engagementbetween the configuration resources of the relevant user and thoseshared by him and the other users is also displayed.

As described above, the subsystem logics partitioning and managingmethod according to the present invention is performed for managing, atan API level, access to a partition of interest from an informationprocessing unit and changing of a configuration.

It is thus possible to release (some of) the configuration changingfunctions of the RAID while keeping security, for each of the partitions50, that is, for each system or each user of an application. That is,said user can perform addition/changing of settings of resources withina range of volumes assigned by a storage manager.

Such an effect becomes more significant especially in a situation thatstorages of a plurality of systems are present in a mixed manner in onesubsystem owing to storage consolidation, thereby providing a merit ofintegrated management due to storage consolidation without deterioratingconvenience of each user.

Therefore, it is possible to provide a subsystem logics partitioning andmanaging apparatus, method, and program for enabling releasingconfiguration changing functions of the RAID within a predeterminedrange, and a recording medium for recording the program.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to itsembodiments, the present invention is not limited to them but may bemodified variously without departing from its gist in scope.

1-9. (canceled)
 10. A disk array system, comprising: a port receivingdata sent from an information processing device; a logical unit providedfor said information processing device and relating to said port; a RAID(Redundant Array of Independent Disks) group relating to a plurality ofdisk drives, said disk drives storing a plurality of data and a paritydata related to data sent from said information processing device tosaid port; a plurality of logical resources having said port, saidlogical unit and said RAID group; a plurality of physical resourceshaving said disk drives; a plurality of resource groups each having oneor more of said logical resources and one or more of said physicalresources; a first resource group of said resource groups being formedand being assigned to said one or more of said logical resources andsaid one or more of said physical resources; and a first resource insaid first resource group being changed from a first state of relatingbetween said first resource and a second resource in said first resourcegroup into a second state of relating between said first resource and athird resource in said first resource group for changing configurationin said first resource group.
 11. The disk array system according toclaim 10, further comprising: a first controller controlling to transferdata received by said port; a second controller controlling to storedata to said disk drives; and a memory coupled to said first controllerand said second controller and storing information related to said firstresource group, said one or more of said logical resources and said oneor more of said physical resources.
 12. The disk array system accordingto claim 10, further comprising: a managing device having informationrelating to said resource groups; and a management client coupled tosaid managing device and displaying information of some resources insaid first resource group and requesting to form said first resourcegroup.
 13. The disk array system according to claim 10, furthercomprising: a managing device having information relating to saidresource groups; and a management client coupled to said managing deviceand displaying information of some resources in said first resourcegroup and sending a request for forming said first resource group;wherein said request is checked to determine whether or not it should beallowed.
 14. The disk array system according to claim 11, furthercomprising a managing device having information relating to saidresource groups; and a management client coupled to said managing deviceand displaying information of some resources in said first resourcegroup and sending a request for forming said first resource group;wherein said request is checked to determine whether or not it should beallowed.
 15. The disk array system according to claim 10, wherein: saidfirst resource group is formed in accordance with a request for formingsaid first resource group; and said request has information related tosaid port.
 16. The disk array system according to claim 10, furthercomprising: a second resource group of said resource groups being formedand being assigned to another one or more of said logical resources andanother one or more of said physical resources; wherein one or moreresources in said first resource group are of a different kind than allof the resources in said second resource group.
 17. The disk arraysystem according to claim 10, wherein: said first resource group, inaccordance with a request received, is formed and is assigned to saidone or more of said logical resources; and said one or more of saidphysical resources of said first resource group is selected based oncontrolling by a controller in said storage system and is thereby notassigned to another resource group.
 18. The disk array system accordingto claim 10, wherein: said first resource group, in accordance with arequest received, is formed and is assigned said one or more of saidlogical resources and said one or more of said physical resources; andsaid one or more of said physical resources is controlled to be notassigned to another resource group.
 19. The disk array system accordingto claim 10, wherein: said first resource and said second resource areused to transfer data sent from said information processing device to afirst storage region in said disk drives in said first resource group;and said first resource and said third resource are used to transferdata sent from said information processing device to a second storageregion in said disk drives in said first resource group.
 20. The diskarray system according to claim 10, further comprising: a plurality ofinformation processing devices, including said information processingdevice, sending data to said port; wherein one of said informationprocessing devices is allowed to access data in a first storage regionin said disk drives in said first resource group and not allowed toaccess data in a second storage region in said disk drives in said firstresource group, and wherein another of said information processingdevices is allowed to access data in said second storage region and notallowed to access data in said first storage region.
 21. A disk arraysystem, comprising: a port receiving data sent from a first informationprocessing device; a first controller controlling to transfer datareceived by said port; a memory storing data in accordance withcontrolling by said first controller; a second controller controlling totransfer data stored in said memory; a disk drive group storing datatransferred by said second controller and having a plurality of diskdrives; a logical unit being an address to which data is sent from saidinformation processing device and corresponding to a storage region insaid disk drive group; a plurality of resource groups each having aplurality of resources among said port, a part or all of said firstcontroller, a part or all of said memory, a part or all of said secondcontroller, said disk drive group, and said logical unit; a firstresource group of said resource groups, upon allowance of a request sentfrom a second information processing device, being formed in accordancewith said request sent from said second information processing deviceand being assigned to said plurality of resources; and a first resourcein said first resource group, said first resource being changed from afirst state of relating between said first resource and a secondresource in said first resource group into a second state of relatingbetween said first resource and a third resource in said first resourcegroup for changing configuration in said first resource group.
 22. Adisk array storage system, comprising: a port receiving data sent froman information processing device; a logical unit provided for saidinformation processing device and relating to a storage region; a RAID(Redundant Array of Independent Disks) group relating to a plurality ofdisk drives, said disk drives storing a plurality of data and a paritydata related to data sent from said information processing device andrelating to said storage region; a plurality of logical resources havingsaid port, said logical unit and said RAID group; a plurality ofphysical resources having said disk drives; a plurality of resourcegroups each having one or more of said logical resources and one or moresaid physical resources; a first resource group of said resource groups,in accordance with a request sent from a second information processingdevice, being formed and being assigned to said one or more of saidlogical resources; and wherein said first resource group is assignedsaid one or more of said physical resources selected based oncontrolling by a controller in said storage system.
 23. A disk arraysystem, comprising: a port receiving data from an information processingdevice; a Plurality of logical units being provided for said informationprocessing device and relating to a plurality of storage regions; aplurality of disk drives having said storage regions; a plurality of ECC(Error Check and Correct) groups relating to said disk drives and eachof said ECC groups storing a plurality of data and a parity data relatedto data sent from said information processing device; a first pluralityof resources having a plurality of said ports, said logical units, saiddisk drives and said ECC groups; a second plurality of resources havinga plurality of the type of resources in said first plurality ofresources; and a plurality of resource groups each having said secondplurality of resources; a first resource group of said resource groupsbeing generated in accordance with a received request and being assignedto a first part of said second plurality of resources; and another partof said second plurality of resources relating to said first part ofsaid second plurality of resources and being selected based on apredetermined policy.
 24. A disk array system, comprising: a portreceiving data sent from an information processing device; a logicalunit provided for said information processing device to store data andrelating to a storage region; a plurality of disk drives having saidstorage region; a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) grouprelating to said disk drives, said disk drives storing a plurality ofdata and a parity data related to data sent from said informationprocessing device; a plurality of resource groups each having aplurality of resources among said port, said logical unit, said diskdrives and said RAID group and each of said resource groups beingmutually partitioned by logical partition; and a first resource group ofsaid resource groups, in accordance with a received request, beingformed and being assigned to said plurality of resources; wherein saidfirst resource group, independently from the other resource groups ofsaid resource groups, can changed a relationship between some of saidplurality of resources in said first resource group.
 25. A disk arraysystem, comprising: a port receiving data sent from an informationprocessing device; a first controller controlling to transfer datareceived by said port; a memory storing data in accordance withcontrolling by said first controller; a second controller controlling totransfer data stored in said memory; a disk drive group storing datatransferred by said second controller and having a plurality of diskdrives; a logical unit being an address to which data is sent from saidinformation processing device and corresponding to a storage region insaid disk drive group; a plurality of resource groups each having saidport, a part or all of said first controller, a part or all of saidmemory, a part or all of said second controller, said disk drive group,and said logical unit; and a first resource group of said resourcegroups being generated in accordance with a received request and beingassigned gone or more resources among said port, a part or all of saidfirst controller, a part or all of said memory, a part or all of saidsecond controller, said disk drive group, and said logical unit; anotherresource relating to said one or more resources and being selected amongsaid port, a part or all of said first controller, a part or all of saidmemory, a part or all of said second controller, said disk drive group,and said logical unit; and a first resource in said first resourcegroup, said first resource being changed from a first state of relatingto a second resource in said first resource group into a second state ofrelating to a third resource in said first resource group for changingconfiguration in said first resource group.
 26. A disk array system,comprising: a port receiving data from an information processing device;a controller controlling to transfer data received by said port; amemory storing information which is used to control; a plurality of diskdrives storing data transferred and having a plurality of storageregions; and a plurality of resource groups formed in accordance with areceived request and each resource group being mutually partitioned by alogical partition and each resource group having a plurality of saidports, a part of logical parts corresponding to said controller, a partof logical parts corresponding to said memory, and said disk drives;wherein each of said resource groups can be related to said informationprocessing device, wherein a first information processing device relatedto a first resource group of said resource groups can not accessresources in a second resource group of said resource groups.
 27. A disksystem, comprising: ports receiving data from information processingdevices; a controller controlling to transfer data received by saidports; a memory storing data received by said ports; a plurality of diskdrives storing data transferred and having a plurality of storageregions; and a plurality of resource groups formed in accordance with areceived request and each resource group being mutually partitioned by alogical partition and each resource group having a plurality of saidports, a part of logical parts corresponding to said controller, a partof logical parts corresponding to said memory, and said disk drives;wherein each of said resource groups can be related to said informationprocessing device, wherein a first information processing device relatedto a first resource group of said resource groups can not accessresources in a second resource group of said resource groups.